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| Exhibiting artist Melissa Staiger and Kent Place School gallery director, Ken Weathersby. |
From the Press Release:
The Kent Place Gallery presents a solo exhibition by New York artist Melissa Staiger from Friday, September 7 through Monday, October 1.
Staiger's exhibition, titled “Open the Door,” will fill the gallery with vibrant, powerful assemblages and collages, creating an atmosphere of harmony and surprise through color and texture.
The artist has said that opening her heart (the door), and letting her emotions out through her work has become her guiding principle: “I carefully arrange objects, shapes, lines, and colors. I pay attention to relationships, patterns, and shifts of movement . . . I need time to immerse, experiment, listen, and draw in my sketch-book to push my work further . . . using color as the structure in my work opens up a glimpse of understanding that I crave within my inner self.”
Staiger’s works in this show were selected from ones created over the last two years. She used acrylic, oil, stone, paper, ceramic, and found objects to develop an oeuvre varying greatly in scale and construction. Each piece has its own idiosyncratic structure, but throughout the exhibition, a consistent thread is the striking combination of boldness in color, texture and shape with a particularly poetic sensitivity to relationships among the parts. Feeling is the key to each varied composition.
Gallery Director Ken Weathersby said of Staiger’s work, “Melissa’s art exudes color, liveliness, and charm, but it is beautiful rather than simply pretty. It includes moments of complication and darkness, even grief, as well as uplift and joy. Her rich, thoughtful combining of high-keyed hues brings to mind strands of painting’s history that include Henri Matisse, Helen Frankenthaler, and Ellsworth Kelly. Her work contains a full spectrum of emotions including humor. I see the wit in her eclectic and inspired use of found materials. That aspect is part of what makes it feel absolutely contemporary. Of course, it is always the right time for art that can be believably life-affirming.”
The artist has had recent solo shows at Trestle Projects and at Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, both in NYC. She has participated in many group exhibitions in New York, nationally and internationally. Her multiple grants and residencies include stays at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, The Wassaic Project, Trestle Projects, and the Puffin Foundation. She has curated exhibitions at a variety of NYC venues and has often participated in artist panels. Staiger holds an MFA from Pratt Institute and a BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art.
Kent Place Gallery is on the campus of Kent Place School, 42 Norwood Avenue, Summit, NJ. Gallery hours are school days, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information call (908) 273-0900, or visit www.kentplace.org/gallery.
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| Installation view with What was Stolen, we have back., 2018 |
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| MULTI-view, 2018 |
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| Installation view |
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| Yellow Connects, 2017 |
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